Well, not quite, but it feels like it. Had my SIL's Blingo van booked in for MOT on Monday.
He brought it round on Sunday and informed me it needed a back box on the exhaust.
I knew there was no point in presenting it as it was, 'cos of the emissions test. As it was short notice, I took it to one of the Nationals on Monday morning. Normally I would have done the job, getting a box trade discount ...60% normally. But I didn't want to reschedule the MOT.
The cheapest I could find was about £110, one chain wanted £137 plus VAT.!!
Had it done at the cheaper one, paid on my card and pocketed the bill.
Had a look at the bill today and I've been charged £1.50 to leave the old box for disposal !!
I presume they just rack up a truck load and weigh them in......for cash. It's not even far to the metal merchants , it's in the same road !!
Is there no stone left unturned for grabbing that extra bit of cash off the customer ?
I won't be using them again .
Ted
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It's small rip off almost hidden charges that annoy me too.
MB estate we owned a few years ago had a complete MB service history with it including every bill, the annual costs were thousands no service less than £500...on every single bill there'd be odd little extra's like £1.50 screen wash and 50p for a washer etc.
Maybe it's us thats in the minority as the previous owner kept going back for more, i'm like the OP they'd only take the Michael once.
That Ted he's not short of a few bob..;)
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Went to the dentists yesteday. £16.50!! for a 5 minute check up. They then had the temerity to say a £2.00 charge for paying by cc, or 'only' a 50p charge if I paid using my Debit Card!
I left them my watch & car keys & walked to the hole in the wall. In 30 years of retailing I have never insulted customers by charging them a cc fee for having the benefit of my business.
The motoring link is that the chief dentist runs a new SL, and I know how much they cost.
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I left them my watch & car keys & walked to the hole in the wall.
And thats another thing, some cashpoints charging you to get your own money, so far i've not needed to willingly be so robbed and you'll hear the cussing from here should that ever come to pass.
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Went to the dentists yesteday. £16.50!! for a 5 minute check up. They then had the temerity to say a £2.00 charge for paying by cc or 'only' a 50p
So that's £198/hour for a highly qualified professional with machinery, back-up nurse and (presumably) receptionist. Seems fair enough to me, compared to what some one-man band white van 'trades-people' charge.
And the credit charge surcharge is hardly unusual - even DVLA do it for your on-line road tax! Blame the banks for charging the businesses in the first place.
Edited by boxsterboy on 12/02/2010 at 06:19
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Seems fair enough to me compared to what some one-man band white van 'trades-people' charge.
And how much would that be then??
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Went to the dentists yesteday. £16.50 ............
Do you mean you didn't have a mere £16.50 cash on you? !
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Wish I was a pound behind you, buddy boy ! :-)
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Very expensive, I paid £106 for my mid and back box but then its always been a bit noisy as you probably know.
It annoys me when I see those charges but I suspect these days the law is very tough. If I took out a part out of a used PC and it put into another one I need a recyceling licence for that.
It is the mad world we live in rules for everything.
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Dentist round the corner had a black Porsche.....brand new, private plate. had a camera trained on it with a screen in reception !
Mother in law lost a crown......she was with them and she had the crown.......£75 to superglue it back, could have done it myself if I'd known. and she was over 90 !
Greedy sod...soon got her into my national health guy.
I got my phone/bb/telly bill this week. Fined £5 for not doing direct debit and a further £1.25 for getting a paper bill. I send a paper bill to the firm I do a little p/t work for......I wonder ??
Your's outraged.
Ted
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MB estate we owned a few years ago had a complete MB service history with it including every bill the annual costs were thousands no service less than £500...on every single bill there'd be odd little extra's like £1.50 screen wash and 50p for a washer etc.
I've commented on the MB forums that MB invites hassle by itemising out every item to an extent that I've never seen in other marques. A recent front brake pad and disc change on my car had literally a page full of items & charges, including 2 kinds of grease and ***£22*** for removing and refitting the wheels! Thank goodness it's on a service contract.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 12/02/2010 at 00:32
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That Ted he's not short of a few bob..;)
He is now!!
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Funny - I also went to Dentist yesterday - scrape and polish and check on teeth -- another clean bill of health and receptionist said "That's only £67 David" - I did say that's "only my wife's weekly state pension" --I unfortunately couldn't find a NHS dentist.
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a lot of small shops charge a fee for using a debit card if you spend under a certain amount, the one in the village charges 50p a throw if you spend under a tenner...it may sound petty but it soon adds up.....i use the tesco express , they dont charge nowt
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We don't charge card fees, but obviously its does 'cost' us when customers use a card.
We don't charge for disposal of parts or oil etc but we do charge a disposal fee of £3 for tyres where the customer supplies their own tyre for us to fit and leaves the old one with us. If the customer buys a tyre off us then there is no disposal fee.
At the end of the day there are certain costs of doing business and there is a limit to what customers will stand before they start to look elsewhere.
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...receptionist said "That's only £67 David"... I unfortunately couldn't find an NHS dentist.
The receptionist where I go calls me Mr deBeest. And that's NHS. I've no idea what kind of car my dentist drives, though.
}:---)
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A former work colleagues wife is a dentist. She was earning £70K pa in the 1990's and drove a 911.She now own's a dental surgery with six other dentists working for her.
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I do not care what the dentist charges to look after my teeth. You could not pay me enough to do that job.
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"a lot of small shops charge a fee for using a debit card if you spend under a certain amount, the one in the village charges 50p a throw if you spend under a tenner.."
Could use that cash stuff. All shops accept it I believe
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After a few years with a private dental practice, but now with an excellent NHS dentist, £16.50 seems an absolute bargain.
Clk Sec
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Best plan is just to leave your teeth with them and come back later !
Ted
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;-) People will complain about paying £20 to £50 to a dentist for a 6 monthly checkup to look after a vital part of the human anatomy, but then they will happily waste £50 to £100 on unnecessary 6 monthly synthetic-oil and filter changes on their car.
Even worse, they willingly fork out a fortune for monthly visits to a hairdresser.
Not to mention Valentine's Day, I said not to mention it.
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the wife is dyslexic, she thinks its "vasaline" day
could be fun
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I have had no problems with finding a NHS dentist locally but the charging system is a rip off . Greed , no more or less.
They now have three levels of charges for a course of treatment.
Quick check up around £15
Any thing such as fillings / extractions costs around £45 ,
Major work such as crowns etc around £350 .
Hygienists now around £30 a session
I used to go for an appointment and a dentist would do two or three fillings in 15 minutes without a problem and charge for the one visit, hygienist was free as well or they would clean your teeth themselves. Now they do one at a time and charge you three times over .
No dentist is poor - I went to see mine recently and he was on a course... in Buenos Airies learning how to do implants. His colleague was happy to relieve me of £ 45 for 10 minutes work on a front tooth.
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Could use that cash stuff. All shops accept it I believe
yes i do if i can, but they even charge you to get your own money out of the ATMs, obviously i wouldnt but the banks know people cant be bothered to find free ones to use
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yes i do if i can but they even charge you to get your own money out of the ATMs
Which Banks charge, Z? I don't know any that do... but I do know that if I use one in a pub or shop I'll get charged, but thats the pub or shop charging rather than the Bank, so I'll just use a proper bank one and not get charged...
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Which Banks charge Z? I don't know any that do... but I do know that if I use one in a pub or shop I'll get charged but thats the pub or shop charging rather than the Bank so I'll just use a proper bank one and not get charged...
ive challenged the local shop keepers about the charges and they say that they are passing on the charges to the cutomer the charges the banks impose on them....maybe some one on this forum can clear this up....im only going on experience
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As I understand it they get "commission" as well... ask yourself why would they do it for free? It gains them little and is an increased risk to the shop for thieves.
Anyhow the solution is simple, don't use the, they tell you before you withdraw that they will charge you so its easy enough to avoid!
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If you feel that strongly about it, why not go back and demand £1.50 in return for them giving you your rusty old box back (or another one if not available)?
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Monthly dental insurance plans, anyone?
Analogy: monthly roadside cover insurance.
I'm just saying - in both cases you either pay up a shocking one off when something goes wrong, or else a regular monthly payment and peace of mind. Less than 40 quid a month for a family of four is not ridiculous (compared to satellite TV package, Internet, golf club, smoking or drinking habit,...) In Germany (Germans - particularly girls - have beautiful teeth in my experience (blushes) - treatment is very cheap as long as the patient goes for the six monthly check up.
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regarding cash machines in shops/pubs , there are two types , self fill or filled for you.
we have the self fill type , not only do we get a percentage (small) but we can fill it , so we do not need to go to the bank as often , note we have to pay extra insurance for having this machine , rental /lease of the machine and also a dedicated phone line , we don,t get £1.50 per transaction
regarding debit/credit cards , customwer walks in , and buys 5 x lottery tickets (£5) , tops his mobile up (£10) and buys gas/electric etc ,
the profit margin on the 3 above is approx 2.5%
with a credit card , the transaction costs that amount , less for a debit card , but still a charge.
you COULD be employing staff , paying rates etc , and work for nothing,
we have a policy , min £5 excluding lottery , paypoint/paypal and ciggys ,
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we have a policy min £5 excluding lottery paypoint/paypal and ciggys
Does that mean minimum purchase of £5.00 - or
Minimum amount on a card of £5.00?
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i meant the minimum sale would have to be £5 excluding lottery etc , actually we will do a lower sale , but charge 50p
amother one , is why do shops offer you cashback?
the answer is , that less money in the till , less money to bank and lower charges , note they only give cash back on debit cards , as they get payment immediatly
Edited by freddy1 on 13/02/2010 at 11:12
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Everything costs in this world (I'm a management accountant currently working in a healthcare company) - all these extra charges are simply to match pricing to costs incurred. Some companies roll these into the headline price, some don't (e.g. Ryanair). 6 of one; half a dozen of the other. Though I understand how annoying the lack of transparency can be and no-one likes unexpected extras.
On the dentist - £16.50 for 5 minutes fairly closely matches the cost of a GP consultation in my company - this is simply because GPs earn £85k+ (too much IMO!) and I imagine dentists aren't far off that too.
Signature deleted.
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My dentist charged about £2000 for the twin back boxes recently, and the same for the front. There is a complicated set of interconnectring pipe and bridgework, stainless steel pegs, hangers, etc.
I wanted a decent system that doesn't rattle around, and zero emissions of course. I use Fluoriguard additive for long life.
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